Former Metropolitan Transition Center correctional officer sentenced for contraband scheme
BALTIMORE -- A former correctional officer at the Metropolitan Transition Center in Baltimore has been sentenced to two years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Shanese Butler, 35, was convicted of racketeering conspiracy related to a scheme to smuggle contraband in the Metropolitan Transition Center, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
Butler was involved in a romantic relationship with Christopher Mann when he was a detainee at the Metropolitan Transition Center, state authorities said.
She conspired with Mann along with other detainees and detention center employees to distribute drugs and illicit bribes.
Butler pleaded guilty to participating in the relationship-based conspiracy between June to November 2020, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
Butler, Mann and at least two other conspirators, including Correctional Officer Thomas Green, worked together to smuggle contraband into the detention center in exchange for bribe payments, state authorities said.
At Mann's direction, Butler sent $1,000 bribe payments to Green on multiple occasions, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
In exchange for these bribe payments, Green smuggled contraband into the detention center and delivered it to Mann, state authorities said.
Evidence shows that Butler controlled Mann's Cash App account through which multiple payments were made to Green and an outside facilitator, Cania Jefferson, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
Multiple payments from and on behalf of Mann's customers inside the detention center were received through the cash app, state authorities said.
Butler played a key role in liquidating the operation's proceeds, too, according to state authorities.
Cash App records show that between September 16 and October 3, 2020, Butler withdrew approximately $33,000 from the Cash App account, state authorities said.
The FBI recovered approximately 10 percent of that amount, $3,020, while searching Butler's home on October 2, 2020, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
The balance of the proceeds is unaccounted for, state authorities said.
Documents show that in September 2020, law enforcement officers intercepted phone calls in which Butler and Mann devised a scheme to spray liquid K2 onto a piece of paper, and to smuggle the paper into the detention center through the United States mail service.
Butler sent the piece of paper to another detainee as a "trial," state authorities said.
The sample was seized by jail administrators, tested by a chemist, and found to have been soaked in synthetic marijuana, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
When the FBI raided Butler's home in October 2020, they found a spray bottle containing liquid K2 and multiple pieces of paper that had been soaked in liquid K2, state authorities said.